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Name: HOPKINS, John Gerald Hemus OBE
Birth Date: 2 May 1889 Cape Town
Death Date: 16 Jan 1973 Stellenbosch
First Date: 1917
Profession: 1948 won the Aberdares in election to Legislative Council. Had 25 years as a DC or PC. Farmer in the Aberdare constituency. Appointed Senior DC in 1939. Originally Asst. DC in 1917. Acting PC Rift Valley in 1939
Area: Kiambu, Nakuru, 1925 Marakwet, 1930 Embu, 1935 Kiambu, 1922 Garreh
Married: Constance Isobel Watson Davidson b. 1905, d. 28 Aug 1991 S. Africa
Children: Peter John (19 May 1927 Cape Town-1993 Sedgemoor, Somerset)
Book Reference: Last Chance, Golf, Staff 39, KAD, Red 25, Red 31, Hut, Colonial, Red 22, Kiambu Scrapbook, Web, Stud, Dominion, Witchmen, Chandler, Beck, Red 19
General Information:
In 1936, when the new Golf Club house was completed at Kiambu, in memory of the previous building he donated the "Phoenix Cup". It was destroyed by fire in 1935.
KAD 1922 - Asst. District and Resident Commissioner,
Kiambu Scrapbook - DC Kiambu in 1935. Presented a Cup, known as the Phoenix Cup, to commemorate the rising of the new club from the ashes of the old [burnt down], the Cup being made out of the molten silver shillings from the fruit machine. Golfers compete for this Cup every Christmas Eve.
Web - British Perspectives on Aulihan Somali Unrest in the East Africa Protectorate, 1915-18 by George L. Simpson Jr. - Note 7 mentions J. Gerald Hopkins as Bulesa ADC.
EA Stud Book 1954 - Brood Mares - Thoroughbred - Breeders - G. Hopkins ?
Dominion - District Officer - 1930
Witchmen - Meru - In January 1928 Lamb was joined at Meru District headquarters by J. Gerald H. Hopkins, appointed assistant district commissioner. Unlike many colonial officers of that era Hopkins had developed an intense interest in traditional African life, notably its supernatural aspects. During prior postings he had actively investigated what he referred to as "witch doctoring", generally by talking to "the cranky old fellows themselves" in regions where supernatural practitioners were not perceived as sources of resistance to British rule. ……… [more]
Chandler - Something of a loose cannon, Hopkins was very much into elephant hunting for a profit. The ivory of elephant that he shot on control in his own district belonged to the government, so he frequently took out licences (signing them himself) to hunt elephant in neighbouring districts. The need to get a dead elephant on the profitable side of the boundary line caused him once to move a guidepost identifying the border between his own district, Meru, and the neighbouring district of Samburu. In order for him to own the ivory it was necessary that the carcase be found in Samburu territory, and it was easier to move the marker than the elephant. This one act led to 30 years of dispute over where the proper boundary lay.
Gazette 4/4/1917 - Arriived on 1st Appointment - Asst. Dist. Commissioner - 25/3/1917 - G. Hopkins
Gazette 6 Dec 1938 Kiambu Voters Roll
Gazette 27 July 1973 probate